


Study Sessions

by marvelousmedli



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Eventual Fluff, M/M, Relationship Development, Slow Build, sweet boy kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-04-30 06:38:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5153930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelousmedli/pseuds/marvelousmedli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The progression of these two dorks relationship through a series of study sessions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tuesday

That sunny Tuesday afternoon Yosuke had found himself staring at blankly at the chalkboard while twirling his pen through his fingers. He noticed he started to become warmer as the afternoon sun shined through the window and landing on his side. His blissfulness was short-lived after once again the teacher had called on him and the whole class had turned their heads to stare at him when he didn’t answer right away.

  
_Oh no, let’s see, something about the 1700’s maybe? Ugh why did she have to call on me? Is everyone looking at me, oh god everyone is staring at me…_

  
“Uh, um, hey Partner think you could help me out here? Sorry.” he quietly whispered so that the teacher wouldn’t hear.  
Despite his best attempt to calmly spout the answer and deepen his lie of knowing the material he fumbled over his words and was scolded for asking for the answers. Dammit he thought as he dropped his head into his newly crossed arms on his desk. The class continued to glare at him for a brief moment before turning back to their own books. He felt awful for depending on his best friend to help him with a simple answer. Why couldn’t he pay attention? Why couldn’t he comprehend how important this all was and how it might affect if he got into a good school or not? His thoughts got distracted, so much so, that when the final bell had rung it had made him jump.

  
“Hey are you alright, you seemed kind of down earlier?” Souji stood up from his desk.

  
“It’s nothin’, just bummed I made a fool out of myself again in front of the whole class. Man, why do they always call on me. Well, I mean I know why but still…” He could feel his partners’ eyes on him as he stood up from his desk.

  
“If you want some help studying I’m free tonight if you wanna come over?”

  
"A-Are you sure? I mean, that's a pretty tall order you have for yourself, I'm pretty much a lost cause dude." Yosuke started packing up his things. He had tried studying before with his classmates but he couldn’t remember the material as soon as he left the library. His notes were a completely different story. When Yosuke took notes, (if any at all even) he would write down single words and phrases without context so when he went to look back on them later he could never remember what the subject matter was only what little he had written down in his notebook.

  
"It's no problem at all, I want to help you as much as I can." Souji patted him on the back.

  
"Well, thanks Partner, I will train well under you oh, great one." He jokingly bowed and slung his bag over his shoulder. The two exited the classroom; saying goodbye to the classmates they knew as they walked down the stairs together.

  
The sun outside shone down just as brightly as it had in the classroom, the warmth that he had felt earlier made him smile when he felt it again. The two had conversed in small talk as they walked, mostly about the plans for later that night and occasionally slipping in some gossip that he had herd in the hallway.  
The conversation died down as they made it almost to the Dojima residence. Yosuke finally spoke up.

  
“Hey, seriously thanks Partner for doing this, I really appreciate the help. You’re like the only one who has wanted to take the time to help me, so, uh.” He adjusted his bag on his shoulder. A shy smile crept onto his face.

  
“Of course, we can do this whenever you’re free if it helps.” His partner smiled back at him.

  
The rest of the walk was somewhat quiet after that. Yosuke wasn't sure why he had nothing to say. He began to space out, noticing all the little things about this place he had lived for a while now. He eventually turned his gaze over to his partner, noticing all these small things about him he hadn’t noticed prior. To the way that he sometimes glanced down just to make sure he knew where he was going to how he was naturally a slow walker and he had to slow his walk just to not leave him in the dusk. Without realizing they had already made it to the residence but Souji had to grab his arm and stop him from walking past.

  
“Hey, wake up we’re here.” Souji laughed, stopping in his tracks in front of the door.

  
“Huh, oh, yeah sorry, just spacing’ out over here. Heh” He rubbed the back of his neck.

  
“Well, let’s go get our study on Partner!” He coyly elbowed Souji in the arm. Souji smiled at him and let them both in. He toed off his shoes and followed closely behind his partner as they went up the stairs, greeting Nanako as she watched TV downstairs. Each step creaking slightly as pressure was released from them as they ascended. He couldn’t help but notice that as Souji walked up the stairs he had this kind of bounce in his step and he couldn’t help but smile because of it.  
They had both sit down on either side of the small table in Soujis room. Souji grabbed his bag and took out a couple textbooks and a notebook.

  
“Alright teacher where should we start?”

  
“How about English?” Souji opened up his notebook. Yosuke groaned, throwing his head back. Out of all the subjects, English was probably his worst. He could never remember how to phrase things right or how to come up with sentence structure, part in due because of his less-than-good method of taking notes.  
Despite his protest however, Yosuke opened up his notebook and listened intently as his partner went on about what they had been learning in English over the last couple of weeks. Souji noticed his notebook and offered to rewrite his notes in a way that you could make sense of them.

  
“Y-you don’t have to do all that partner, there’s probably like a billion pages of notes you’re gonna have to rewrite…” His partner uncapped his pen and layed his notebook next to Yosukes and started copying all his notes down in a very organized fashion.

  
“Trust me if you keep trying to decode all of your notes you might never understand. At least this way you’ll be able to have some context to what you’re trying to study.” Souji lifted his head for a brief second to smirk at Yosuke before going back down to his notes. As he wrote he tried explaining what he was writing but it was hard because he was sitting opposite from Yosuke, so he flipped the notebook over so it was readable to Yosuke and he moved himself to the other side of the table. This kind of closeness made him tense right up, especially when he felt Soujis knee bump against his. He didn’t know if the redness he felt all over his face was actually present; he hoped not. He looked up carefully to see Souji also with a hint of pink in his cheeks.

  
“Oh, s-sorry.” He shifted his knee away, avoiding eye contact. The pink still visible on his cheeks.

  
“N-no it’s fine.”

He had noticed something about his partner that he hadn’t been able to notice before. He had never seen Souji act shy and uncomfortable before. He avoided his gaze; staring down at his notes for a brief second before picking up his pen and continuing his note copying. It was interesting to Yosuke to see him like that. He wondered if anyone else had gotten to see this very rare side of the tough-as-a-brick-wall Souji. He was lucky. The small moment had come and gone in a matter of seconds and the two went quietly back to English sentence structure. After he had finished copying the notes and explained what exactly he was writing, it sort of made sense for Yosuke.

  
“It’s weird, when I hear it in class it makes no sense but when you explain it I completely get it. You ever thought about being a teacher?”

  
“I mean maybe, I don’t think I’d do very good teaching a whole class though, but I’m glad you’re getting the hang of it.”

  
“I mean it dude, you pretty smart. It’s insane how smart you are I’m super jealous.” Soujis cheeks flushed a light shade of pink from the sudden compliment. He hadn’t realized how long they had been sitting there until Yosuke started to feel his leg cramp up. He tried to untie his legs but moving them just made the cramp worse.

  
“Hey, uh, partner, could we maybe call it a night? I’ve been sitting so long I can’t feel my leg.” He laughed and pushed himself off of the floor slowly only for the tingling to become pain and almost push him back onto the floor.

  
“Are you okay? We can just watch some TV or something if you want?” Souji laughed, closing his textbooks and packing away all his school stuff.

  
“Yeah, sounds good Partner.” He looked out the window and was surprised to see that it had become dark out.

  
“Hey, actually partner I didn’t realize it was this late. I should probably get home or else my mom’s gonna send out the military to come find me.” He laughed, stretching his whole body.

  
“Oh, right, sorry I hadn’t noticed either.”

  
“H-hey, I have to work tomorrow night, but maybe Thursday after school we could… do this again?”

  
“Of course!”

  
Souji had walked him downstairs and walked him outside into the brisk night.

  
“Thanks again man, see you at school tomorrow!”

  
After walking for a couple minutes, the Dojima residence completely out of sight, Yosuke felt his phone buzz in his pocket.  When he went to check it the light from his phone was almost blinding compared to the darkness of the night.  It was from Souji.

**Hey, you left your notebook here**

**If you wanna walk to school together I can give it to you before class starts.**

**See you tomorrow!**

He smiled as he responded to the text.  

He continued to walk home to the loud, fast beating of his heart and a smile that lasted him well into the night.


	2. Wednesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a little longer with this chapter than i wanted, especially for it being a smaller chapter, work has been crazy!! Hopefully chapters to come will be quicker :3 Thank you so much for reading this, I'm really excited to continue <3

Yosuke had had some rough days at work in the past but today in particular everyone seemed to be more aggravated with him than usual.  Things hadn’t been ringing up the right price, someone spilling juice on the floor and some lady almost slipped and fell in it; not without curing at Yosuke for not cleaning it up.  He could feel a migraine settle into his head and he still had another half an hour left of his shift.  He wanted nothing more than to run home, shut himself in his room and close his eyes in utter silence.  He tried to keep busy so that time would rush to the end of his shift. 

Finally, his shift was over and he didn’t think he could be more relieved.  His headache had reduced a little but he still felt it throbbing by his forehead.  He couldn’t even pedal his bike fast to quickly get home because he was so exhausted.  His legs felt like they were gonna melt, in fact, his whole body felt like it was gonna melt.  He wondered if he would melt before he got home on the street or on the floor in his room.  The thought produced a slight chuckle from his lips.

Despite Teddies pleas to go out and quote ‘see all the things, Yosuke!!’ he trudged up to his room and frankly almost dropped right there in front of the door.  His book bag fell off his shoulder like a sack of bricks, making a loud thump as they landed.  Yosuke also fell like a sack of bricks as soon as he reached his bed.  The softness, the comfort, it was all he was wishing for all day.  He felt as though he could blend himself with the mattress and the two could become one.  He rolled from his back to his stomach and placed his head between his folded arms.  After laying there in the silence he wished for all day he heard his phone ring in his pocket.  Souji.  Before his partner could finish his sentence Yosuke interrupted.

“Hey, sorry partner but it’s been a shitty day, i-is it okay if I just sorta vent to you?”  There was a slight pause before Souji assured him he would listen.  He let out a sigh before going on and on about his afternoon.  On and on about all those people who had ruined his day.  Yosuke would ask him if he ‘did the right thing’ and ‘was I actually at fault for any of this’.  Souji assured him that people were awful sometimes and that he did everything as he was supposed to.  Slowly the pressure in his head had subsided and he started to feel more relaxed as he talked with Souji.  Eventually, Yosuke had completed his rundown of the afternoons’ events and the two continued to chat for another hour or so.

“Hey… I just wanted to say thanks. Talking with you about all that really helped.” He let out a small chuckle.

“Anytime, Yosuke.  Feel free to call whenever you need to get anything off your chest.”  Yosuke began to feel a warmth in his chest and a smile slowly creeping on to his face.  He didn’t know of anyone else who would stay up late with him and listen to him rid himself of the days’ negatives.  However, as much as he enjoyed talking to Souji he felt his eyelids get heavy.  He couldn’t be tired for school, especially when he had another study session tomorrow with his partner.  He hoped Souji remembered.

“A-are we still on for tomorrow partner?”  He didn’t know why he felt his stomach drop.  What if he forgot?  What if he made new plans with someone else?  Why was he feeling his heart start to beat faster?  Was he really that excited to study? Or was it..?  Before he could finish his thought Souji responded.

“Yep, just don’t forget your notebook.” Souji let out a laugh.  Yosuke had felt relieved to know their plans were still on. 

“Alright partner I’ll see you tomorrow then.  I’m gonna hit the sack before I’m too tired to function tomorrow.  You should too man.” He stretched out, hearing multiple bones in different places crack together.  Souji agreed that he too was getting tired.  The two had exchanged goodnights and then hung up simultaneously.  Yosuke layed on his back staring at the ceiling.  He couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t get his friend out of his mind. His cheeks flushed more as he layed there just… thinking.  When he heard Teddie walking up the stairs he quickly covered himself with the blanket and turned on his side as to pretend he was asleep.  Teddie fell for it when he quietly told Yosuke goodnight before climbing quietly into his closet bedroom.  Yosuke fell asleep shortly after that but he found that as the night went on his brain never really stopped thinking about Souji, but not once did he ever try to tell his tired brain to stop.


	3. Thursday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda short update, working retail during this time of year put a lot on me ;-; hopefully ill have another one up by next week or after thanksgiving <3

Nervous.  Why was he feeling nervous?  He had never felt this heaviness in his chest before school before.  Was it because of what he was thinking about last night?  It couldn’t have been from his phone call with Souji that night and how it was still on his mind when he had awoken an hour earlier.  Most definitely not.  He stepped into the bathroom to change into his uniform.  Slowly pulling the wrinkled t-shirt he had worn to bed off and throwing it on the floor.  It almost frustrated him that these kinds of thoughts were still plaguing his brain.  Why couldn’t he turn them off?  Why couldn’t he get this boy out of his mind no matter how much he tried?  His palms began to get clammy; he started to feel warm.  There’s no way in the slightest that he might be starting to develop feelings for his friend.  _Is that why I feel like collapsing? Because of these feelings?_ He thought.  Absolutely not.   _I’ll just head to school, go to class and study with Souji tonight and everything will be completely normal._ He was overthinking things.  His phone buzzed on the sink.  He flipped his phone open to see a text from none other than his partner.

 

                **Where r u?**

 **Did u forget to wake up?** **  
**

_Oh god._ He forgot to keep track of the time.  Souji was waiting for him at their usual meet up point and he hadn’t even finished buttoning up his shirt.  He quickly texted him back, apologizing and saying he was running out the door as he texted. He grabbed his bag and jacket and ran down the stairs.  Quickly slamming the door behind him, he started running down the street.  He juggled buttoning his shirt while balancing his bag on his shoulder and trying not to trip over his own feet.  His lungs were burning and he had only been running for a couple minutes.  He could see someone standing in the distance, there was no mistake it was Souji.  He yelled his name and waved to get his attention.  The closer he got he could see the big stupid grin Souji had on his face.  He stopped on a dime as he reached his partner, completely out of breath.

“Listen man, I am so sorry for making you wait you should have just gone on without me.” He let out a small chuckle as the two started walking towards school. 

“It’s fine.  I don’t think we’ll be as late as you think we would be, you did full sprint here from your house.”  The two shared a small quiet laugh.  Yosuke was completely out of breath.  As the two talked he kept having to stop to take a breath, Souji thought it was really funny.  Seeing Souji laugh; seeing that big, stupid grin on his face made Yosuke feel like he could take on a thousand shadows.

As soon as the two and a couple other students who waited until the last minute to enter class had sat down the lecture started immediately.  Yosuke tried his best to focus on what the teacher was writing and wrote down notes as best he could.  Despite paying attention more than usual he hoped that the teacher wouldn’t call on him.  The subject matter was still a little difficult for him.  He kept his head down, writing down everything on the chalkboard, occasionally doodling in the margins of his notes whenever he couldn’t keep up.  He poked his head up and looked around the classroom.  Some were taking notes, he noticed another kid flat out passed out to the left of him.  He was about to start writing down the new information on the board when he noticed Chie slip Souji a folded up piece of paper.  Did they always pass notes like that?  He could see Souji unfolding the piece of paper but from his vantage point he couldn’t read what was on it.  Chie turned back and noticed that Yosuke was looking at them perplexingly and she coyly stuck out her tongue at him and swirled back to face front, just in time for Souji to quickly slip the note back onto her desk.  He could see her unfold the small folded paper and grin when she read it.   He didn’t know why he felt so heavy all of a sudden.  _Pfft, he doesn’t pass me any notes what is this?  Am I really getting jealous of Chie?  What could they even be talking about?  Like I care anyways…_ He quietly tore out the corner of an empty page in his notebook and without speaking asked Chie what they had been talking about.  He quietly flicked the note in front of him, landing right next to Chies’ desk on the floor.  She didn’t notice the note at first so he let out a totally non conspicuous cough to get her attention.  She quickly turned her head around to look at him; noticing his gaze on the small paper on the floor she looked down and quickly grabbed the paper.  He noticed her mischievous grin as she picked up her pen and started writing her response.  Right as she was folding the paper back up the bell had rung for lunch.  She quickly stood up and slammed the paper down on his desk.

“Here ya go nosey.”  She smiled.

“H-hey, I was just curious!  Nothing wrong with that.”  She ignored him and ran out into the hallway.  Souji stood up from his desk, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

“Yosuke, you wanna go eat on the roof?  It’s crazy how beautiful it is outside.”  He turned to look out the window.

“Sure thing partner!  I’ll meet you up there, I gotta run to the bathroom first man.”  Souji smiled at him and nodded; heading out the door to head up to the roof.  He sat at his desk for a minute staring at the piece of paper still folded in his hands.  _This is so ridiculous, why do I even care,_ he thought as his fingers slowly unfolded the paper to reveal the gossip he had waited all class to see.

_____________

 

_Care to share with the class what you guys are gossiping about? -Y_

_______________

_YOU, DUMMY!!_

_:P_

_______________


	4. Friday

Yosuke had insisted that they skip over English and go straight to another subject. As much as he didn't want to go over the brief notes he had taken for math, it sure would give his brain a rest from trying to make sense of English conversation. The two had been upstairs in Soujis room again, sitting on the floor with their back against the couch. Souji flipped through his math textbook and explained complex formulas while writing them down in Yosukes notebook.

"Do you want me to write you down some simple problems and you can try and solve them?" Souji flipped to a fresh sheet in Yosukes notebook.

"Heh, now we're gonna see how really bad at math I am." He turned his head in embarrassment. He wasn't terrible at math truth be told, but when it got to more complicated equations and formulas he had a hard time remembering when to use what and was x really equal to 34 if divided by y?

"I don't think you're bad at math Yosuke, you seem to understand most of this fairly well, it's only just what they've recently been covering that you seem to be having any problem with. And that's why I'm here, to help you get caught up." He looked up and saw that Souji was beaming. He felt his stomach twist into a small knot the way he looked at him.

"Geez partner, layin' it on a little thick there aren't you." He turned his gaze back to the notebook in between them, cheeks becoming more flushed the longer no one spoke.

"W-well also like hanging out with you..." 'I like being with you too' is what he wanted to respond but all he could do was shoot out a quiet 'yeah, me too' all while still not meeting Soujis eyes. He watched as Souji carefully thought of five problems and wrote them down on the notebook. He swirled his pen between his fingers as he watched Soujis pen glide across the page.

"Okay so I altered the problems in the textbook so that they are written out more easily to understand. Now it's your turn." Souji smiled as he slid the notebook to his left to land in front of Yosuke. Somehow the pen that he had been twirling through his fingers had begun to slip out of his hand without him noticing, that is until it had completely left his had and bounced off the small table and had landed between the two of them in the small spot between them where their legs had not been resting. Souji noticed the pen and reached his hand down to grab it, all while Yosuke had also reached down to grab the pen. Their two hands had brushed together in what would be the most cliché way possible. As soon as Yosuke had grabbed something that was most definitely _not_ his hand, he quickly retracted, his cheeks reddening. Souji also turned a little pink but Yosuke wouldn't notice because his gaze was straight ahead of him. Souji slowly grabbed the pen and cleared his throat. _D-did I really just grab his hand, oh god way to go Yosuke. Why am I even making a big deal about this? It's not like I wanted to ho-_

Souji seemed to be slightly more over the fact that Yosuke had just almost held his hand than Yosuke was. His hand was reached out with the pen waiting for Yosuke to take it. He accepted the pen and let out a small laugh before taking a look at the problems on the paper. The first two he had absolutely no problem with. He even showed his work to really show Souji that he was getting the hang of it. As he finished the second problem he looked up and noticed that his partner had been carefully watching him. Souji smiled when he saw that Yosuke had finished the two problems easily.

"See? You're gonna ace this next text, if you keep doing this good." Soujis smile was so warm and inviting. Souji leaned in on the table, propping his head up with his arm. The way that Souji praised him made him feel like he could take on the hardest that math could offer.   _I don't deserve this, this help, this compassion_.  He thought as he glanced over the next problem. What had he done to deserve such a kind and helpful friend? A friend that only knowing for a couple months, was slowly questioning whether or not he was developing a ... 'more-than-friends' feeling? He wanted so badly to deny it; to push this new feeling so far back that it would disappear, and yet here they had surfaced again. It seemed that he encountered these feelings when he was alone with Souji; and albeit they had just started studying together less than a week ago, every time he could see this more private side of Souji it made him the happiest he had been in a very long while.  To see the way he acted when he wasn't surrounded by swooning girls, or literally anyone else at school he couldn't help but smirk as hit pen hit the notebook and he began finishing the last problems. After solving them and even a couple more it was obvious that Yosuke was very knowledgable of the subject. In class however, he couldn't seem to take very good notes. Souji wrote down all the formulas they had gone over in his math notebook. Not long after the impromptu quiz Souji let out a very drawn out yawn.

"You wanna stop here?" Yosuke slapped his notebook closed.

"Do you want to?" Souji readjusted himself on the floor.

"Yeah man, you look pretty beat, let's call it a night." Souji nodded in agreement. Yosuke collected his things and threw them back in his bag, double checking to make sure he didn't forget his book again. Souji walked him downstairs to happily be greeted by a sleepy yet beaming Nanako. The two had walked outside into the almost completely dark night. Yosuke let out a large drawn out yawn.

"Alright man, I'll see you tomorrow bright and early. And, uh, get some rest dude you look beat." He smiled, gently punching Souji in the arm. The small laugh that Souji let out made him feel a little guilty. Between training in the tv and school _and_ helping Yosuke with his work long into the night he didn't know how he managed to constantly be so... awake? Souji gave Yosuke a small shove jokingly and the two shared a contained laugh.

"Night, partner!" He slowly turned and started to venture back to his house. After a couple minutes he turned to look back and notice that Souji was still standing outside watching him walk home. He knew Souji couldn't see his smile but he knew he could see his final wave as he rounded the corner leaving his line of sight. He immediately pulled out his cell and shot Souji a text.

**Go 2 bed!! :p**

The pinkness spreading on his cheeks was definitely not from the cool of the night when he felt his phone buzz with a response.

   **I was making sure you didn't get attacked by rabid cats lol**

**don't worry I'm going right after I get Nanako to bed**

**see you tomorrow!!!**  

As Yosuke walked home in the still, quiet night, he couldn't tell you what he had for lunch that afternoon or how late it actually was. There was, however, one thing; in fact the _only_ thing he could know for absolute certain was that he was most definitely, one hundred percent sure he was developing feelings for Souji.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaa this is waaaay later than I said I was gonna update but it's finally here c: I'm a very tired bean so hopefully there will be another chapter before Christmas is not it will definitely be right after, thank you to everyone who has opened this to read I seriously love all of you so much <3


	5. Tuesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks into camera*

He knew that he couldn't constantly be hanging out with Souji, that he needed to let him have his space and hang out with his other friends once in a while. He couldn't be greedy. During lunch, Chie had asked Souji if he would help her train down on the riverbank after classes and he happily agreed. Since they had announced that there was a test the week after next, Yosuke knew that he really needed to buckle down and finally do good on a test.

The final bell had rung and Chie sprung from her seat almost immediately, quickly rotating to face Yosuke.

"We're gonna go train Yosuke, you wanna come with?" He wanted to move but he now had more than one set of eyes on him as Souji turned to hear his answer too. He had to study, but oh god did he want to spend more time with Souji. He slowly began to tuck his books back into his bag.

"I-I actually was gonna go chill in the library and study.." He didn't think he would ever usher those words to another human being for as long as he lived. He expected Chie to retort with some insult on how he shouldn't bother or he was really wasting his time but he wasn't prepared to look up and see a very surprised expression on her face as well as Souji beaming at him.

"Yes, Miss Satonaka, go ahead, spit it out." He flung his bag over his shoulder as he stood up from his desk, he couldn't look either of them in the eye.

"Wow Yosuke, I'm impressed! I didn't think I'd ever see the day you'd use your textbook for something other than to rest your head on while you sleep through class." She giggled as she tied her jacket around her waist and grabbed her things. He felt a slight hint of embarrassment spread across his cheeks. He knew she was just kidding around but he knew that she was also right.

"Yuck it up all you want, but I'm actually gonna pass the next text." Chie jokingly scoffed back at him.

"Come on Souji, if you I beat you to the riverbank you're gonna owe me lunch, and i definitely want some juicy steak!" She was stopped halfway in the door with an eager grin. Yosuke turned to make his way to the library when he was stopped with a tug on his sleeve.

  
"Hey, if you need any help, mark the sections in your book that you dont get and we can study tomorrow night, i-if you want.." Souji quickly let go of his sleeve. Yosuke looked up to see Souji looking directly into his eyes.  
  
"Y-yeah man, I'll text you tonight." Souji silently agreed with his smile and let go of Yosukes sleeve. He turned and noticed that Chie was no longer standing in the doorway waiting and Souji noticed as well. He said his goodbyes to Yosuke and quickly made his way out of the classroom in follow of Chie. Yosuke stood by his desk just blankly staring at the door for a couple more seconds before snapping out of it and slowly making his way to the one place he didn't want to go.  
  
\-----------  
  
He knew before he walked in and sat down in a secluded part of the library that he was going to have a difficult time studying. The words kept blurring together on certain subjects and any sounds, no matter how small, kept diverting his attention from the task at hand. Come on, Yosuke you need to study, he thought, tapping his pencil quietly on his empty notebook. Everything was making him hyper-aware from people just walking in to the quiet whispers of other students and that one kid in the corner who would not stop tapping his foot against the leg of the table. /How could it be this difficult?/ he thought. All he had to do was read a couple pages and write down some notes about what he had read. There was no way he could let Souji down. After about ten more minutes of looking around and picking up his pen to write and then immediately dropping it back on the table he finally began writing comprehensible notes. He had made up his own system of reading a single paragraph and then writing down anything that he deemed useful for what might be on his next test. After an hour of studying he wasn't sure if what he had written down was worth anything but he was so in the zone he almost didn't noticed he had recieved a text. He opened his phone quickly; his pen rolling onto the floor.  
  
**How's the studying going?**

He looked over at his one page of notes and smiled as he replied to the text.

**It's going g8 partner!! Im pretty tired so bout to pack it up**

He folded up his notebook and packed up his things, making sure not to forget the pen that had rolled under the table. Right as he went to grab it he heard his phone buzz on the table and without thinking he jolted up and smacked his head on the edge of the table. As he rubbed his soar head he heard some others in the library giggle around him. As he was walking out of the library he reached into his pocket to read the message he heard a couple girls mention Soujis name. He stepped off to the other side of the hallway and pretended to send a text as he listened to the two other students gossip.

"..yeah well I saw him today walking out with that Chie girl, apparently they are hanging out alone at the riverbank."

"I wonder if they are secretly going out?"

"Ugh, I hope not, she's like super annoying and he totally deserves better than her."

He couldn't keep listening to their stupid gossip. Did they really not go down to the riverbank to train? Were they really...together.. and why did he feel suddenly sick thinking about it? Why didn't Souji tell him if that was the case? He let out a big sigh and slowly made his way outside to his bike. He wanted to scream but nothing would come out. As he climbed on and kicked back the stand he felt something drip on his hand. He looked up to see if it was starting to rain when he realized it had come from him. Before anyone could notice he used his sleeve to dry his cheek and then gripped his handle bars as tightly as he could. This feeling was all so new to him still, this feeling of jealousy? Was it even that? Was he over-the-top over reacting to this whole thing? Could he really believe what those girls were talking about in the hallway? He was so confused and that made him angry. These newfound feelings he had discovered recently for his friend had bubbled back up into his throat as he choked out some small, unintelligible noise. He didn't think he had wanted to be home alone more than he did right then and there. He took of so quickly for home, pedaling faster than he ever had.

Upon getting home he threw his shoes off and rushed to his room and quickly slammed the door behind him. He dropped his bag on the floor and climbed up on his bed. Sitting with his back against the wall, he pulled his knees close to him and rested his head down. It was so quiet the only thing he could hear was his own breathing. His phone buzzed again with another message. He flipped open his phone and viewed the message between his legs.

**Thats great!! Lets go over your notes tomorrow then :)**

As soon as he tried to respond he felt something wet on his keypad. He pulled down his sleeve and rubbed his phone dry and then reached up and quickly wiped away the wetness on his cheeks again.

**YEAH partnr!! U wanna come over after school tomorrow?**  He waited a couple seconds before hearing his responce. _damn he types fast_ he thought.

**sounds good! I have to study too so we can study together :D**

He smiled as he placed his phone next to him on the bed. A small laugh escaped his lips as he thought about how crazy he acted earlier, how embarrassing he was. There was no way in HELL that Souji would be into Chie...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just want to take this time to really thank everyone who has read this story of mine. It's been a while since i updated this; a lot longer than what i had hoped. Life is hard guys but i really wanna continue this. Every time i opened my app to write this i just found it really difficult and maybe its this chapter, maybe it's something else and tbh I'm not super proud of this one but i really wanna make the next all better so thanks again really from the bottom of my heart for reading this you are all wonderful and i love you all so much. (also don't worry Yosuke will be happy soon ;) )


	6. Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lol Sooj is a fuckin dork
> 
> im embarrassed by this chapter

Just as Souji had promised the two had met up after school the following day to go over Yosukes' notes and study for their test coming up.  Being that it was the one day that week where it wasn't chilly around the time they left school, they decided to study inside the gazebo by the Samegawa.  There was a cool, gentle breeze that made its presence know every couple of minutes and Yosuke would have to quickly grab all his loose papers or else all his hard work would end up down the hill and into the water.  When not frantically flailing to catch their work, the two managed to get some actual studying in.

"Dude, one of these times I'm not gonna be paying attention and all two pages of notes are gonna be gone forever."  He elbowed the boy sitting next to him.  Despite them being out there for about an hour, he had only managed to fill about two pages with notes and there was so much more that he needed to go over. 

"Don't worry I'll sprint across the street and save them if I need to." He let out that small huff of a laugh that Yosuke had come to enjoy more than he would like to admit.  His enjoyment had been short lived when he remembered that he wanted to ask his partner about what he had heard in the hall way the other day.  At first when he thought about it, he thought it might have been out of line for him to even consider bringing it up, and what if he didn't get the answer he was looking for, what then?  All night he had contemplated how to bring it up and it was now or never he had to know or else he was going to implode.

"H-hey partner?" His hands shyly hid themselves in his sleeves and he slowly fidgeted underneath the table.  Souji dropped his pencil in the middle of the book he had opened.

"Yes?"

"You're not gonna believe this, its super crazy but, yesterday these girls were in the hallway spreading rumors about you ha ha about you being on a date with some girl isn't that crazy partner heh…"  _Nice goin, Yosuke you really nailed it_ …  His cheeks spread with a light pink as everything went quiet.  He felt that breeze return and slammed his hand down on the table to keep his papers from shooting off.   It seemed like Souji had waited an eternity to say something and in the most calm, quiet voice he finally spoke.

"…Heh… yeah that’s pretty silly because I was most definitely _not_ on a date with Chie and I don't have any romantic interest with her either." _Oh my god_ he thought, _he really was just training and I was really just being totally over the top with this, of COURSE HE WASN’T_  and without thinking, like most of the time, he opened his mouth and spouted out the first thing that popped into his head.

"Phew, that’s great partner, because I -" _shit… Yosuke do NOT say another word!_

"…you what?"  He made eye contact with the boy sitting next to him and noticed that the redness previously on own face had spread to his partner.

"Heh, you know p-partner I, uh… oh!"  As if a higher being had noticed that Yosuke was about to crumble into a flustered mess, he saw all his afternoons work start to blow away slowly in front of him.  Before he could even process the action of lifting his hand to grab the papers, Souji leaned past him; reaching out past him to grab the papers.  Souji had one arm stretched out to grab the paper, and the other bracing himself on the edge of the table, the kid was practically in his lap for crying out loud and all he could do was stiffen up and hope that Souji wouldn't notice how blatantly flustered he was.  Souji retrieved the papers and pushed himself back to his own spot on the bench.

"S-sorry I-" Yosuke cut him off.

"Don't worry about it, dude, at least you don't have to help me re-write everything that was on them" He let out a small laugh as he re-organized his papers back into a nice stack.  He could feel his partners eyes on him, but he couldn't bring himself to meet the gaze.

"... I wouldn't have minded."  He looked over to see that Souji was already back to taking down notes  _of course he was_ but he had a grin so wide that made Yosuke wish so hard that his notes had flew down into the river, at least if that happened he would have gotten to spend even more time with Souji.  He watched as Souji flipped a page in his textbook and took down some notes.  Yosuke had notices a pattern to how he studied.  First he would flip the page, and then almost pierce the books page with his stare and then he would reach to his left where he would always keep his notebook and transfer what he had retained and Yosuke loved being able to be apart of this little silly ritual.

As he stretched his arms out, Souji placed his pencil back between the pages like he always did, crossed his arms on the table and slowly rested his head down with his head turned to face Yosuke.  The gentle wind that had been present for the entire afternoon they had been outside had made itself known again, but not as strong as before.  Not strong enough to blow his papers all over Inaba, but just strong enough to blow some strands of hair in Soujis eyes.  Yosuke followed suit and rested his head down on the table in his arms and without thinking gently blew on Soujis face in an attempt to blow the silver hair back to where it was.  In doing so, he managed to blow it more out of place accidentally, resulting in the two of them letting out a quiet, gentle laugh.  Souji blew in his face as kind of payback and Yosuke found himself trying to peel it out of his eyes and trying not to eat any of it.  The two had stayed like this, elbows resting next to each other just sharing simple conversation for what seemed like minutes to them but eventually it had even begun to get dark.  He knew he would be hurting later for not getting as much studying done as he would have liked but when Souji proclaimed that they instead pull an all nighter as his place to make up for lost knowledge he almost too eagerly agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> managed to get a chapter done and it didn't take me 8 years lol  
> i hope you guys can see where this is going  
> LOOK AT THESE NERDS GUYS  
> I LOVE THEM SO MUCh
> 
> (this might have been OOC a little im bad at write)
> 
> also thank you for reading you are so great also thank you for liking these dorks with me ❤  
> (i also am very tired and didn't super check this for spelling oops)  
> HAVE A GREAT DAY


	7. Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this time we rollin from Sooj's POV  
> kind of a short continuation of the last chapter because my brain is fried

For the first time in a very long time Souji had felt...fear?  Not the kind of intense fear you feel when the world is ending tomorrow, but that deep pit in your stomach that makes it uncomfortable to move pretty much at all.  As him and Yosuke had been walking back to Dojima-sans house he felt fear.  Up until this point he had almost perfectly taken any feelings he had felt for the boy walking next to him and hid them away.  That was, until earlier when he caught himself slipping up with their study session.   _Did i cross a line?_  he thought as the cool evening air sent a small shiver down his spine.  Despite their small touches here and there and the way that he couldn't help but steal glances at Yosuke while they worked, he was almost sure that Yosuke hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary with him.  Spending that one-on-one time with Yosuke made his chest tight and his stomach anxious in the best way possible and he in no way (at least to admit out loud) had asked Yosuke to impromptu spend the night at his house in hopes he could finally maybe let out all this static in his chest.

"Its a little chilly out, huh partner?" Yosuke crossed his arms tightly around himself in an over-exaggerated attempt to warm himself, blowing out making a barely visible cloud of vapor in front of him.  He himself didn't feel all that cold; in fact, the breeze running over his cheeks felt relaxing.

 

"Ha, yeah sorry about that.  We probably shouldn't have stayed out so late." He fidgeted with his jacket sleeve, keeping direct eye contact with the road below them.  He couldn't stop thinking about earlier when their faces were so close to each other on the table; the way they stayed like that for hours.  He wondered what Yosuke thought of how close the two had been that afternoon and if he was okay with it or not.

The two's conversation had died down to almost nothing when he began kicking a small pebble in front of him with each step in hopes to divert his attention the tingling in his throat and the pink that had spread across his cheeks .  He had noticed that Yosuke had walked a little closer to him, probably because he felt like a literal furnace; their arms brushing together as they moved forward.  Yosuke had reached his foot in and kicked the pebble before Souji could and it somehow turned into who could kick it to Dojima's the fastest.  

"Last to the house has to write all the notes, and sorry Partner but I don't plan on taking down anymore notes tonight.  Besides, your notes are way easier to understand than mine anyways." He centered the rock between them as to give them both an equal start.

"Don't worry I'll make you some food when you have to write all those notes tonight."  He lightly jabbed his elbow into the boys side. The two jokingly shoved each other out of the way to reach the tiny rock and move it closer to victory.  He had managed to get it around the corner by their destination but then Yosuke lightly rammed into him, almost sending him off into someones yard, and kicked it up the hill in front of the house. Souji was laughing so hard, and with the force of Yosukes nudge he stumbled and when he finally caught his balance he rested his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath; visible in front of him in small clouds. Yosuke kicked it enthusiastically far off into some bush and declared that he was the victor.  

"Heh, sorry Partner, the king has been crowned."

When he finally caught his breath, he made his way up to the house and quietly let themselves in but not without giving his partner a light shove in return.

 The lights were all out and there was a note on the table from Nanako saying that she had left him dinner in the fridge.  The two boys quietly toed off their shoes and set there things down on the table to begin their nights long journey.

"Could you turn on a light, I'm gonna grab us something to dri-" He stopped mid thought when he turned around with two glasses in his hand to see Yosuke standing next to the couch, a slight pink glow spread across his cheeks with his gaze on the floor.  

"I-is everything okay-"  He could feel his own heartbeat in his ears with how quiet the room had become.

"S-sorry Partner, kinda spaced out there for a second.  I-I'll turn on the light."  He carefully noted how Yosuke quickly turned on the light and then returned to his previous spot by the couch, his gaze mindlessly going off into the dimly lit room.   _Why was he being so restless all of a sudden_ , he thought as he grabbed two glasses from the cupboard.  It was so quiet that the sounds from the water filling the cup were almost too loud.  He was just about about to finish filling up the second glass when he heard a voice behind him, a lot closer than he thought.

"...Souji?"  He adjusted his grip on the glasses so he wouldn't drop them and then turned around to see Yosuke standing right in front of him.  This time, Yosuke was looking right at him with an almost determined look on his face.  With the closeness that he wasn't expecting he almost dropped the water in his hands 

"D-don't worry I'll write your no-" He was abruptly cut off when the boy in front of him had leaned in even closer to him and the next thing he felt was something warm pressed against his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT A CLIFFHANGER DAMN  
> IM SO EMBARRASSED HELP ✖‿✖  
> idk i really like the idea of Sooj being all shy and nervous and how Yosuke makes hIM THAT WAY AAHH  
> Thanks again for everyone reading this it seriously i cant say it enough i love all of you so much work has been really breaking me down emotionally and physically and writing about these two just gets me "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
> and there will be longer chapters and more awkward dorks in love soon enough


	8. Its Still Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> God these nerds are so awkward and cute and i want to die

_His chest was going to explode if he didn't say anything_.

_All I gotta do is just calmly explain how I feel and hope he doesn't scream and run away, that's it Yosuke, you got this_ , he thought as he quietly stepped inside the house with his Partner.  Should he wait until they had finished studying, should he even do this at all?  He was having such a great night and now all he wanted to do was throw up.  The two quietly entered the dark, silent house and he set his bag down quietly on the floor.  This was probably the toughest choice he had to make up to that point in his life.  There was no way he could lose his best friend over something this silly.  Souji quietly stepped past him, un-shouldering his bag and tossing it on the couch.  His mind was going a hundred miles a minute that he almost missed what Souji had said to him just now about the lights being off as he kept his gaze firmly on the floor.

"I-is everything okay-" His gaze shot right up to meet Soujis eyes.

"S-sorry Partner kinda spaced out there for a second.  I-I'll turn on the light."  A small sigh; almost unheard by even him, escaped his lips as he slowly and quietly stepped over to the nearest light. As he had made his way back to the spot by the couch where he had rooted himself previously he had looked up and noticed something, noticed _Souji_.  He stood in the kitchen with his back turned getting the two of them some water.  His frame was being lit by the small amount of moonlight creeping in through the window above the kitchen sink.  This moment was so light, so seemingly simple and yet Yosuke couldn't keep his damn heart from beating so loud.  There was no way he could leave this house before he said something to the boy standing in front of him, this he was now sure of.  What was he going to say, how would he begin to put all this into actual words? 

He looked down and realized that his feet were just moving on his own, making his way into the dimly lit kitchen, and planting himself right behind Souji.

"...Souji?"  The words were so quiet he almost wondered if his own nervous heartbeat was actually louder than what he spoke.  After spitting out a barely audible name he quickly went into panic mode.  He had thought about what he would say in this very situation over a hundred times and yet here he was with nothing to say.  He had to think of something quick.

"D-don't worry I'll write your no-" As Souji turned around to answer him, he did the stupidest thing he had probably ever done in his life.  He had leaned in and kissed the other boy.  SHIT.  He stiffened and then what felt like an eternity but was only mere seconds later, he quickly backed off the other boy.  Despite it being very dimly lit, it was just light enough for him to see the panicked expression on Soujis face. 

"U-um..."

"Shit, shit, shit, u-um, I-"  He wanted to spit out an apology but nothing came out, but did he really?  He had really screwed up this time.  He held his breath.  Souji was going to hate him and never want to speak to him ever again for this.  A silence grew between them until Souji cleared his throat.  It's all over now, he thought.  He had avoided eye contact the whole time, but as he looked up to hear what Souji had to say, in the darkness that had consumed the kitchen, he noticed a small, tender smile.

"…Please say something dude."  Yosuke was gonna explode.  Or cry.  Definitely both, he was sure of it.  He fiddled with his shirt sleeve nervously.  He had fucked up.  Maybe if he started running away now he could make it out of the immediate area by morning.  The silence wasn't actually that drawn out but boy did it feel like years before Souji uttered words.

"L-lets go sit down."  _Finally_ he thought.  Yosuke continued to twist his fingers around in the hem of his shirt sleeve as he quietly followed the other boy back into the living room.  Souji placed the two glasses on the table next to each other and the two lowered to the floor at the same time.  As soon as Yosuke grabbed his knees and pulled them close he could feel Souji turn to him, but he couldn't meet his eyes, not this time.

"Thank you… Yosuke."  Yosuke bluntly let out a huge breath that he forgot he was holding.  He didn't hear that right, did he?  No, no Souji was going to tell him to never talk to him again so why did he thank him?  He couldn't have hugged his knees tighter to his chest if he wanted to.  A small choke left his throat and then the question he wanted to ask never made it past his lips.  All that came out was a small noise that he could only hope Souji would understand.

"W-what I mean to say is that- Yosuke, I-" He turned his head slowly to finally look at Souji.  The light from the living room now illuminating the face he was unable to see in the dark kitchen.  He observed that the other boy sat with his legs crossed with flushed cheeks and an incredibly nervous expression; fingers nervously fidgeting around the glass in his hands.   _At least he doesn't look angry…  And if he is he's very good at hiding it._ He thought he was good at reading his partners face, but at this very moment he had nothing; not a single clue.  It was the worst.  He swallowed hard as he patiently waited for Souji to finish his thought.

"-I feel the same…I-if that’s what you meant by what just happened.  If not then it's okay I-"   Yosuke quickly sprung up on his knees, bumping his hip on the edge of the table.

"NO- uhm, n-no that's exactly what I meant actually…Was that…okay?"  He really wished that he could have stopped himself from almost jumping into the other boys lap because now the eye contact that he lacked with the other boy; the one that made him feel a little less scared of this situation was now gone.  Souji was looking directly in his eyes and he was completely frozen in place, his hands balled into fists tightly on his lap.  If he wasn't sure his heart was gonna implode before he was sure it was gonna now when he felt something warm press against one of his fists.  His eyes quickly shifted to his lap to see pale fingers wrap around his tight knit ones.  He shifted his gaze once more to see Souji eyes downcast but with smiling as he slowly tightened his fingers around Yosukes hand.

"I would like to… uhm, I-if you wanted to we could…" He stopped short and brought his eyes back up to meet the others but Yosuke knew where he was going.  He slowly loosened his tight fist and with trembling fingers laced his with the other boys; sure his palm was sweaty _oh it definitely was_  but he didn't care.  After a second he could feel Souji tighten his fingers together more. With a shaky, nervous breath he continued.

"You mean, go out?"  His head was spinning, was this really happening?  Not even in a million years would he ever have guessed that his feelings would be returned by the boy sitting next to him.  He would pinch himself to make sure that this was real and happing but he was so nervous his arms were firmly cemented where they rest.  Souji smiled back at him and finally after an agonizingly long seven seconds he finally returned his answer.

"I would like that, yeah."  He had never seen Souji this nervous before but _boy_  did Yosuke think it was the cutest thing ever.  His cheeks were probably just as red, but he was too happy to care.  With Soujis warm smile melting him into a pile of mush he slowly regained feeling in the hand not being held and brought it up to cup the others cheek, his clammy fingers slowly brushing strands of silver hair behind the boys' ear.

"I don't really know what I'm doing here partner." He huffed out a small nervous laugh; his thumb slowly rubbing small circles on Soujis cheek.  It was true though.  Yosuke had never been with anyone ever and all of this would be an entirely new experience.  He was sure that Souji had had so many previous relationships and the thought alone was enough to take a tug at his pride.  Souji slowly brought up his other hand to rest on top of his own and the letting out a nervous laugh of his own.

"Believe it or not, this will be my first experience… d-dating as well."  _Dating._  The term alone made him shiver.  He and Souji were _dating_. His mind was running all over the place of what the word entailed between the two of them.  He knew things had changed between them from this moment on, but it was all for the better.  He felt a slight tug on the hand resting down his lap being held and before his brain could comprehend what was happening he was being pulled closer to Souji until their lips met for the second time that day.  It was sweet and slow and it was _definitely better than their first kiss_  Yosuke concluded.   The feeling of Soujis warm, soft lips pressed against his own, despite being one of the more nerve wracking moments in his entire life, had managed to release some of the tension he had been building.  He felt calm sitting here slowly pressing sweet kisses to the other boys' cheek, his nose, all over Soujis face.  The other boy laughed breathlessly as each kiss was placed.  God he wanted to hear that laugh forever and soon before he knew it, all the worries and stress from before was all but gone.  

 

 ~

 

"I'm sorry that we didn't get as much of your notes done as we had planned."  Souji looked over to the book bag strew on the couch cushion.  His fingers still intertwined with Yosukes after sitting at the table for some time later laughing and talking about god knows what.  Yosuke let out a small groan.

"'s fine, don't worry about it.  I'm sure that even with this much help I'm still gonna bomb this test."

"I want to make sure you pass this test, Yosuke.  Even if we have to study into the morning I will do everything I can to help." 

"Finee~, I can’t say no to you now, not with that face at least."  He looked away in embarrassment.  Souji hadn't stopped smiling at him since their kiss earlier and Yosuke couldn't deny that one graced his lips as well.  Souji leaned in and gently kiss Yosukes cheek before reaching over him and grabbing his notebooks out of his bag and spreading them out on the table.

"Great, then let's start by rewriting your notes and then we can go over them together and study each section thoroughly."  Just looking at all these notes and words made his brain want to fry itself, but maybe studying like this wasn't so bad when he had the best teacher he could ever ask for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise!!!! I bet you guys didn't think i would finish this one but I've been thinking about my boys more recently and I had to finish it. Thank you so much for reading this i love these boys with all my heart and this final chapter is definitely my favorite one out of all of them. There's probably mistakes in here that I'll find later but I had to just post this and finish it. Comments/Kudos appreciated and thanks again you are all too kind and sweet!!!


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